2012: The Montreal Impact made their MLS debut with a game against their Western Canadian
rival the Vancouver Whitecaps, losing 2-0 on March 10th. They would make their
home debut a week later, as a record crowd of 58,912 witnessed the Impact play
the Chicago Fire to a 1-1 draw at Olympic Stadium, with Davy Arnaud score the
Impact's first ever MLS goal. The Impact will play at Olympic Stadium, while
their regular field, Saputo Stadium is renovated and expanded for the MLS. They
are slated to play their first game at Saputo Stadium in June. They will meanwhile
continue to use Olympic Stadium for bigger games in which they expect a larger
crowd. At midseason, the Impact acquired 2006 World Cup champion Alesandro
Nesta to give a world veteran presence to the club. A five game winning streak
late in the summer helped the Impact to a respectable 12-16-6 record which put
them in seventh place in the East.
2013: Showing improvement from their inaugural year, the Impact won their first four matches
to se the tone early and proceeded to win five of their next nine. But after
that, the Impact struggled badly including a six-match winless streak but the
team managed to finish the season with their first playoff berth at 14-13-7.
But the team was clearly not ready for primetime as they were blanked by the Houston
Dynamo 3-0 in the knockout match.2014: Team leader Alessandro Nesta announced his retirement in the offseason and Davy Arnaud
was traded, creating a black cloud on the Impact's season. Indeed, a 0-3-3
start to their year was a precursor to a six game losing streak during the summer
on the way to a 6-18-10 record that left them in the basement of MLS.
2015: Results did not come out of the gate for the Impact, losing three and tying two of
their first five matches. A 5-2 stretch followed to put the club back in the
mix for a playoff spot, but there was still trouble as a three game losing streak
in August led to Frank Klopas' ouster. The club brought in Ivorian World Cup
veteran Didier Drogba for the playoff push and he provided in a big way. Under
interim coach Mauro Biello, the Impact improved drastically, spurred along by
Drogba's eleven goals in his eleven matches with the team and six wins in their
final nine matches to finish in third place at 15-13-6. In the Knockout Round,
the Impact easily dispatched Toronto FC 3-0 to move onto the semis. In that round,
the Impact beat Columbus Crew SC 2-1 in the first leg, but dropped a 2-1 decision
in the second leg and Kei Kamara's 111th minute goal sunk the Impact.